“Sometimes they do, on some occasions they lead to goals, sometimes they work, and thankfully today it worked.

“When Villa went to three at the back that gives you other opportunities and problems. What we did, was we changed again.

“They were always changes to try and gain that advantage in attacking areas. The sub worked and I was pleased about that.”

Irvine was satisfied with the performances of Silvestre Varela and Brown Ideye and he expects both to get better with games.

“The two of them came in late without a pre-season and just as we were getting them close to being in contention for a starting place they both got injured and in Silvestre’s case that was quite a long lay-off.